It's April Fool's Day... or St. Stupid's Day, if you prefer.
15 years ago, April1 was also Good Friday and because of several things that were going on in my life at the time I declared it Coyote Jesus Day. It always seemed like Good Friday was a really great day for April Fools... Oh dear... God's Dead... Oh wait... No he's not! April Fool!!!!
It never really caught on, but it always seemed like a good idea to me.
This year, I'm having a different crisis of personal consciousness. Whereas on the original Coyote Jesus Day I was engrossed in the economic and emotional situation I was in, the new media company I was about to start, and the absurdity of all the elements of my life... THIS year April 1 comes at a time when I am engrossed in the economic and emotional situation I am in, the new media company I am about to start, and the absurdity of all the elements of my life... See what I mean?
Everything is TOTALLY DIFFERENT!
One of the things on my mind this week has been the philosophical difference between Amusements and Amazements and my personal jury is still out on that one, but I'm beginning to notice a thoughtful pattern.
My initial thought process, earlier this week, was that I liked the idea of Amazements better than Amusements. There is, in the word a seemingly greater profundity in amazement than there is in amusement. A person commenting on my previous post about this points out this very same thing. But when I looked up the roots of both words, I was startled to realize the extent that Amusements is rooted in the word muse and the root of muse itself. The Webster's New World Dictionary states that muse comes from muzzle and the implication of the connection is the image of a person, nose in the air, pondering the greater secrets of the universe. The root of amazement, on the other hand, is maze (as opposed to labyrinth) which is a device intended for confusion.
Personally, I am not much impressed with the concept of confusion these days. It seems to me that coming out of eight years of Dubya, we've had more than our fair share of confusion and it's time to work for a little clarity and a whole lot of consideration.
So... right here and now... on April FOOL'S day... I am leaning heavily toward Amusements. The word begins in contemplation, moves into a wholistic feminist image of inspiration and creativity, and winds up with fun. Sounds like a damn good trajectory to me!
Enlightening entertainment... Entertaining enlightenment.
quciksilver aMUSEments it is!
Happy St. Stoopid's Day!
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2 comments:
If you insist.. it's your blog. But I have had some very amusing times in the straw bale maze. And like you say, unlike the labyrinth, in which there is only one path that leads in all directions before returning, the maze is full of surprise misdirection and false openings. If engaged without fear, however, each dead end yields a new awareness. Very much like life.
The single direction of the labyrinth is so extremely interesting because it is always the same path (assuming the same labyrinth design of course) but absolutely NEVER the same experience. THAT, to me, is what makes it interesting.
I have been regularly walking (and doing it by hand on a small version my daughter gave me) the 11 circuit Chartres labyrinth for over 15 years and it's never once the same experience twice.
I'm working on a piece about that this morning. You can find it at http://kickingatdarkness.blogspot.com/
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